rowland



T. H. ROWLAND AND B. W. BROCKETT.

RESILIENT HEEL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 27. 1911.

1,317,222. Patented Sapt. 30,1919.

QMWMM w THAD H. ROWLAND, or o Re iment hast.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 30, 1919.

Application filed October 27, 1917. Serial No. 198,824.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THAD H. ROWLAND and BLUFORD W. BRooKE'r'r, citizens of the United States, residing at Oberlin and Cleveland Heights, respectively, in the counties of Lorain and Cuyahoga, respectively, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Resilient Heels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to heels for boots and shoes and particularly to devices of that character which are made of rubber and which are designed in a manner to eliminate slipping on wet pavements.

In the use of rubber heels and especially those which have worn slightly much diiiiculty is encountered due to the fact that water or other moisture is a lubricant for rubber and when a film of it is present between the heel and the sidewalk or pavement there is a tendency to slip which is Efforts have been made to overcome this difficulty by placing hardened material within the bearing surface of the heel and other efforts have been made along the same line by roughening or serrating the materiel of the heel so that it will hold on wet or slippery streets. The difficulty with hardened or friction material which is embedded in the heel is that it affects the resiliency or give of the heel. The projections or serrations formed on the heel if not properly made do not produce the result either. The present device is constructed in cross section in a manner similar to a ratchet rack with long inclined teeth and with the abrupt portions of the teeth forward, the idea being that the edges of rubber are presented to the moisture covered surface so that the initial tendency toward slipping will cause these edges to scrape the moisture from the surface into the channels and allow the rubber itself to engage the surface without the film of moisture. In other words, these edges of these teeth operate in a manner similar to the ordinary window cleaner in that they clean the moisoften very dangerous.

ture from the surface and then hold by frictional engagement with the substantially dry surface.

The invention may be further briefly summarized as consisting in the construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth in the following drawings, description and claim.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a shoe provided with our improved lift or heel; Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view; and Fig. 3 is a section upon the line 33 indicated in Fig. 2.

In the embodiment shown the shoe 1 is provided with the usual sole 2 and the heel lifts 3 to which is applied the rubber lift 4 of the usual shape about its edges. The under face of the lift 4 is provided with ratchet teeth 5 which are formed by upwardly inclined faces 6; and undercut faces 7 The face of the bottom of the heel to the rear of the last tooth 5, as shown at 8, is flat and serves as a wear piece to the heel. The arrangement is clearly shown in section in Fig. 3.

Each heel is provided with suitable nail washers 9 embedded in the heel and in alignment with suitable openings 10 for the nails.

In operation as the user steps forward the rear portion of the heel meets the walk or pavement with slight pressure. Then as the weight is shifted forward the heel gradually comes down into flat engagement with the walk giving in a manner to present these edges to the moisture covered surface. The result is that there would be a slight film of water between the heel and the avement and when a slip would start the fi rst slipping action would have a tendency to clear the pavement of all moisture so that the rubber could hold by engagement with the clean pavement or other surface. 2

Having described our invention, we claim:

A heel comprising a body portion of yielding material having its lower portion pro- 95 vided with a series of transversely extending ridges, said ridges having a relatively long saw-teeth having sharp edges which contact face sloping forwardly and downwardly the pavement and exert a squeegee eflect to and intersecting along a sharp edge a relaprevent slipping of'the heel thereon. 10

tively short face lying in a substantially y In testimony whereof we aflix oursignaverticalsplane, both of said faces intersecting tures. 7 a plane touching the edges of several of THAD H. ROWLAND. 7

said ridges, thereby forming a' series of M BLUFORD W. BROCKETI.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents. 7 Washington, D. 0. 

